Just for a change……No London Overground service all weekend (Southern Railways operating)

From TFL’s weekly weekend travel email:

This leaves us with only 2 trains an hour on Saturday and 4 trains an hour on Sunday:

Saturday
Forest Hill to London Bridge at 0643 and 0713 then at 14 and 44 past each hour from 0744 to 2314

London Bridge to Forest Hill at 10 and 40 past each hour from 0610 to 2340 then 0020 & 0035

Sunday
Forest Hill to London Bridge at 0749 and 0805 then at 01, 18, 31 and 48 past each hour from 0818 until 1231 then at 01, 16, 31 and 46 past each hour from 1246 until 2316 then 2346

London Bridge to Forest Hill at 0731, 0738 and 0801 then at 08, 24, 38 and 54 past each hour from 0808 to 2254 then 2331 and 2350

Southbound services from Forest Hill on Saturday terminate at Coulsdon Town but on Sunday terminate at Caterham/Tattenham Corner or Crystal Palace

The weekend shutdowns on London Overground are currently due to continue until the bank weekend of 29/30/31 August.

Thanks for posting these updates @ChrisR - like clockwork! It’s easier to come here than it is to use the TFL app

Perhaps, to save yourself some effort, it would be better to just post here (title in CAPS) when they are running again

I think it’s high time they gave sections of the Overground their own name - if you see a ‘delays on the Overground’ sign it could easily be some branch at the other end of town. Imagine if they said ‘delays on the underground’ and you had to figure out which section it was and all the lines were the same colour. It’s ridiculous.

You’re welcome. This week was quite easy for a change as TFL and National Rail Enquiries have the same information!

Maybe numbering the sections. Orange 1 for the east London line of course

Very true Beige! Especially as it looks like we’re only going to have weekend services back for 2 weeks in September before we start another round of engineering works south of New Cross Gate which means we’re going to have no trains at all for another 7 weekends!

I agree - it doesn’t make sense having one name for all the different lines. I don’t know why they don’t call “our” line the East London Line which is the name of the original line that just ran from New Cross/New Cross Gate to Shoreditch .

I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a union argument. If it is called the “London Overground” “London Overground workers” get to work on it, if it is “Orange Line 1” only certified “Orange Line 1 workers” are allowed on it unless paid danger money

Its a nightmare for people like me that work weekends ! Ive never known the weekend service to be so poor

I feel for you Max. It seems the situation has been made worse because of the Coronovirus. Apparently both lots of work were due to be done at the same time over Easter but lockdown and social distancing requirements has meant the work has ended up being done separately and taking longer. We really seem to have drawn the short straw in this area.

The Tube map is a famously well-designed schematic, clear and easily understood, replicated around the world since 1931.

The Overground map took it and asked “what if we made all the lines the same colour?!”

Not only that but “lets make the lines go in random directions that don’t align to where they actually go so we can fit it all onto a rectangle”

Check the right hand side - Liverpool St way out East in relation to Canada Water and south of Stratford.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a union argument. If it is called the “London Overground” “London Overground workers” get to work on it, if it is “Orange Line 1” only certified “Orange Line 1 workers” are allowed on it unless paid danger money

It already is like that, but nothing to do with unions, it’s just down to which depot the drivers are employed at. Drivers only work on or “sign” the routes that are operated from that depot.

New Cross Gate depot do Highbury to New Cross/Crystal Palace/West Croydon/Clapham Junction/Battersea Park plus some sign the route up to Kensington Olympia (for stock transfer from Willesden as NXG depot does the heavy maintenance for all the 378 fleet).

Chingford Depot do all the routes out of Liverpool Street

Willesden Junction depot do Richmond/Clapham to Stratford. Gospel Oak to Barking. Euston to Watford.

Watford depot do Euston to Watford and Richmond to Stratford.

They mostly have their own Control looking after those lines. So if for some reason there was a decision to completely separate the lines, it wouldn’t take much work at all, pretty much just change the maps on the trains and that’s it. They’re already run individually operationally. If a driver wanted to move depot, they’d have to just learn the new routes and that’s it (well, possibly new traction too if they don’t already sign the 710s, but that’s just a short conversion course).